Handle attachment for wrench head



April 1957 c. H. PELTCHER HANDLE ATTACHMENT FOR WRENCH HEAD Filed Jan. 10, 1956 IN VEN TOR. CHARLES H. PELTCHER A T TORNE Y United States Patent HANDLE ATTACHMENT FOR WRENCH HEAD Charles H. Peltcher, San Diego, Calif. Application January 10, 1956, Serial No. 558,238 2 Claims. (Cl. 81--177.8)

My invention primarily relates to a removable attachment for a conventional plumbers adjustable jaw wrench, particularly as adapted for the better accomplishing of clampingcontact of the jaws of the wrench with the object to be turned whatever its location; and its purposes are especially to render said old type of wrench more effective than heretofore in confined quarters where difiiculty is encountered in applying the jaws of the wrench to turn nuts or unions in locations difi'icult of access; to secure said result by detaching the handle of said wrench from the neck of the head thereof, and replacing the same by an attachment secured to the top of said head and actuated by a turning red adapted for straight-away and angular engagement therewith, and for employing increased leverage; to provide an attachment of this character in the form of a hattened ocarina, extending over the head of the wrench and having upright and angularly disposed widely separated sockets extending downwardly in the back thereof, and positioned to engage with said turning rod, said attachment also having a large central fin downwardly protruding therefrom and shaped and adapted to be removably attached to the side of said head; to render the parts accessible for inspection, adjustment, removal, replacement or repair; and in general to furnish a removable wrench attachment of this character which is economical of construction, saving of labor, efiicient in action and of long life and durability. My invention further consists of novel features of construction, and combinations and arrangements of parts and elements illustrated in the drawing and as hereinafter more specifically described and claimed.

Attention is hereby directed to the accompanying drawing illustrating a preferred form of my invention in which similar numerals of designation refer to similar parts throughout the several views, and in which,

Figure 1 is a side elevation of said form of my improved removable wrench attachment, looking at the unrecessed side thereof;

Fig. 2 is an end elevation of the wrench attachment shown in Fig. 1, looking in the direction indicated by the arrows 2-2; and showing the recess formed in one side of the downwardly projecting fin thereof;

Fig. 3 is a side elevation of the attachment shown in Fig. 2, looking at the recessed side thereof in the direction indicated by the arrows 3-3;

Fig. 4 is a plan view of said attachment shown in Fig. 3, looking downwardly thereof in the direction indicated by the arrows 4-4;

Fig. 5 is a side elevation of the head of the wrench showing said attachment secured thereto;

Fig. 6 is an end elevation of the wrench head and attachment mounted thereon, as shown in Fig. 5, looking in the direction indicated by the arrows 6-6, and

Fig. 7 is a view partly in section of a conventional water meter box, illustrating the combined device shown in Figs. 5 and 6, introduced thereon, the jaws of said wrench being shown in operative contact with one of the meter unions, and positioned to turn the same.

Referring to the drawing, the wrench attachment 8 there shown is preferably in the form of a flattened ocarina when in upright position, the base or main body 9 of which has substantial thickness, an arcuate upper wall of said body having depressed therein and opening outwardly and upwardly therefrom sockets -10, 11 and 12; the socket 11 extending vertically and the sockets 10 and 11 extending upwardly substantially at an angle of forty-dive degrees in relation to the socket 11. Each of said sockets is shaped to receive and readily to seat a lever rod 13, the operation of which is shortly to be described.

Protruding downwardly from the base 9 of said attachment is an extension in the form of a wide ventral fin 14, having a recess 15 therein shaped to engage with one side 16 of a wrench head 17 and to be secured thereto by a bolt 18; the wrench of said head being a conventional plumbers adjustable jaw wrench such as the Rigid, or the Stilson or the 'llremo, or other well-known type in general use and now upon the market.-

As shown in Figs. 5 and 6, the base 9 of the attachment 8, when secured to the side -16 of said wrench head 17, extends longitudinally thereof so as widely to cover both a movable jaw 19 and a fixed jaw 20 of said head, and thereby to secure extended leverage thereof upon the application of the turning rod 13 to any of the sockets 10, 11 or 12.

Preferably, to render this form of wrench more capable of effective use in locations where nuts or unions are ditficult of access, as for example in a water-meter box 21 where, the handle of a conventional wrench is cut or sawed away closely to the head thereof, leaving said head 17 separated therefrom, to which head is secured as aforesaid the fin 14 of the attachment 8; resulting in the combined wrench and attachment shown in Figs. 5, 6 and 7.

in operating said combined wrench and attachment construction in a confined space such as the water-meter box 21 shown in Fig. 7, I first adjust the jaws 19 and 20 of the head 17 so as to fit the meter-union 22, and thereupon, I lower the combined device into said box and cause said jaws to engage said union. Then, by introducing the turning lever 13 successively or as may be required into the sockets 10, 11 and 12, to secure the greatest leverage, -I effect such turning as may be necessary to release from or to secure the water meter within said box.

Through actual experience and experimentation in the field with my combined wrench and attachment device, I have found that by supplying the attachment in the form of a flattened ocarin-a provided with vertically and angularly disposed sockets in the back thereof, and by using the same to replace the handle of the usual type of plumbers adjustable jaw wrench, -I have rendered such wrenches capable of use in locations heretofore unaccessible to such wrenches, and have accomplished such result in a new, more facile, economical, and efiicient way than has been heretofore accomplished.

My invention may be embodied in other specific forms without departing from the function or essential characteristics thereof. The present embodiment as above set forth is, therefore, to be considered in all respects as illustrative and not restrictive, the scope of my invention being indicated by the appended claims rather than by the foregoing description, and all changes which may come within the meaning and range of equivalency of the claims are therefore intended to be embraced therein.

What I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. In a jaw wrench assembly, the combination of a conventional adjustable jaw wrench head, from which the handle has been detached, with an attachment for said wrench head, said attachment comprising a base, said base having a ventral fin downwardly depending there'- from; means for securing saidifin to said head, and means adapted angularly for turning said attachment and wrench head secured thereto in the direction of'the length ofjs'aid wrench.

2'; In a jaw wrench assembly, the combination of a conventional adjust'al'ale jaw wrench head, from which the handle has been" detached, with an attachment for said wrench head, said attachment comprisingan elongated base in the. form. of a laterally flattened o'carin'a having downwardly disposedL sockets therein, said base having a ventral fin downwardlydependingtherefromand' shaped to engage with the side of said head; means for detachably securing said fin to said head upon said engagement, and" a lever adapted to engage with said sockets and to turn said attachment and wrench head secured thereto in the direction of the length of said wrench.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 

